Disney to Cut 28,000 U. S. Resort Workers Amid Deep Slump

Walt Disney Co. is laying off 28,000 workers in its U.S. resort business, the latest sign travel and other communal experiences will be slow to recover from the pandemic. The cuts affect the company’s theme parks, cruise ships and retail businesses, Disney said on Tuesday. They include executives, although 67 per cent of those being terminated are part-time workers. Disney is offering benefits to the workers being cut, including 90 days of job-placement services. Disney’s domestic parks employed more than 100,000 before the pandemic, but that doesn’t include the cruise lines and other divisions. Its workforce totalled 223,000 at the end of the last fiscal year, which ended in September 2019. The cutbacks jarred investors, who sent the shares down almost two per cent in late trading.